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List:       ngw
Subject:    Re: [ngw] So long and thanks for all the fish
From:       Danita Zanre <dzanre.ngwlist () gmail ! com>
Date:       2017-06-12 8:24:07
Message-ID: 750193BE-209B-4E4B-80D7-E34EBDF7E53C () gmail ! com
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Thanks for all of your contributions to the list Jeff.  It's been quite a ride!

Danita

> On Jun 8, 2017, at 9:00 PM, Jeffrey D. Sessler <jeff@scrippscollege.edu> wrote:
> 
> My campus recently hit the two-year retirement mark for Groupwise after our move to \
> O365. The last GW servers are shut off, and with nothing left active, I feel it's \
> time to say, "So long and thanks for all the fish." Many of you, and especially \
> Danita, have been invaluable resources here and on the official forums for well \
> over twenty years, so thank you for all your help. I especially appreciated this \
> groups ability to have those more difficult conversations about our beloved \
> product. 
> I had considered a final post-honeymoon update on the move, but figured having \
> those discussions are painful and now best left along. So instead, with time in the \
> rear-view mirror, and greater familiarity with O365, I wanted to offer the \
> following as recommendations/observations to GW product management. I believe it \
> could have a positive impact on GroupWise futures, including EDU. While these \
> comments are EDU perspective (especially cost), they likely apply to other sectors \
> too e.g. non-profit. 
> 
> Clients
> 
> *   Separate client development and client release cadence, from the backend \
>                 agents.
> *   Shift to high-cadence release cycle for client e.g. monthly, where new \
> features/updates are released constantly. This is the face of the product, so \
> faster incremental updates get features in front of customers sooner, while at the \
> same time demonstrating innovation is alive and well. Take items from the Ideas \
> portal and translate them quickly into the product. It provides visible value to \
> the customer, even if they opt to stay on the slow (stable) release train. This is \
>                 similar to MS' monthly feature updates as well as their insider \
>                 slow/fast programs.
> *   Make the client backward compatible with some older GW releases. Going forward, \
> have one client for development to maintain that supports several older releases, \
> so that all customers have the latest security fixes/improvements. Those on newer \
> backend get features tied to it, everyone else gets the incremental client-based \
> updates e.g. new Ux improvements or other client-centric updates e.g. rule wizards, \
> order starbucks plug-in. It would likely incentivize or entice older customers into \
> upgrading the backend to get those features they can see but not use. It would free \
>                 development to focus on one client.
> *   Need Mobile Clients – Customers have shifted from needing only mail on their \
> phone, to mail and calendar, to using their smart devices for all communications. \
> There needs to be a full-featured GW client with access to advanced features (and \
> integration with other apps). A good majority of our users opt for the Outlook \
> mobile app over standard ActiveSync or IMAP. It's a testament to how critical \
>                 mobile devices have become for users, often supplanting laptops.
> *   Mac Client – Goes without saying. Don't need to beat a dead horse.
> *   Embrace external ecosystem – The client needs to plug-in to third-party \
> systems e.g. adding/storing attachments from BOX, Google Drive, OneDrive is just \
> one example. WebEx, GoToMeeting, Zoom, Slack, universal communication, message \
> translation, order starbucks, and the list goes on.  Be the platform of open choice \
> and less inward-focused. This goes for desktop, mobile, and web. The third parties \
> aren't going to write them for you, but they all have API's on how to integrate. 
> GroupWise Platform
> 
> *   If it's desired to get close to the base O365 EDU offering, the following \
> products would need to be bundled and as close to free as possible. GroupWise, GW \
> Mobility, GW Messenger, Filr, Retain, Reload, GWAVA, Vibe, and OES. I say free \
> since the customer still has to provide the hosting for all of these products. If \
> the customer isn't risk-adverse to cloud, licensing plus local hosting costs make \
>                 GW a hard sell.
> *   Cloud – formulate a cloud/hosting strategy. EDU - Offer free hosting for \
> some/all of the above. Driving down costs makes it harder for a customer to say so \
> long. For other customers that are getting out of on-prem, it provides an option to \
> continue using the product. With the cloud offering, innovate faster, keep \
> providing those customers new features. 
> Best,
> Jeff
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